Grade 6 Graduation & Awards

Grade 6 Graduation Mass

Congratulations to all our Grade 6 students on their graduation from primary school.  Thank you for all that you have brought to St Laurence O'Toole Primary School and best wishes to you as you being your journey into secondary college.

Grade 6 Award Winners

2023 Graduation Speech  

Presented by Olivia Marinou and Finn Shields

Olivia

Good evening everyone and welcome to our 2023 Grade Six Graduation Mass.  How is it the end of the year already? It feels like it went by so fast.  We are so honoured to have been at this wonderful school for seven years.  Look where we are now, only a few years ago we were tiny preps starting big school for the first time. 

Remember walking into school with bags that were more than half the size of us, leaving us looking like turtles.  As our parents walked us into our first classroom we squeezed their hands so tight they probably couldn’t feel them anymore.  Our first teachers Mrs Charles, Mrs O’keefe and Mrs Roberts would smile at us as our parents left the doors even though most of us were on the brink of tears.  Our buddies waited for us to come out of the door at our first recess, then most of us ran off with them to explore, whilst others refused to go near them at all.  Making friends wasn’t hard for little preps like us because all we had to do was say “hi, can you be my friend” and then we would run off to play.  At recess, we remember gazing up at the big kids’ playground wishing we were up there.  At the end of the day we would rush to our parents and tell them how fun our day was.  After that, the year went by so fast.  Saying goodbye to our buddies was the hardest thing we'd done, but we would never forget them.  It felt like the end, but little did we know that was just the start of our primary school journey.

In Grade One we had Mrs Charles, Mrs Hughes and Miss O'Keefe as our teachers, and they were amazing!  On our first excursion we were all trying to sit still but we couldn't.  The teachers had told us to calm down multiple times but it didn't work.  Finally, we got there after what felt like forever.  We were greeted by a man who showed us the building and it was huge!  It was a great day.  The rest of the year flew by before it came to an end.

We couldn't believe that we were in Grade Two already and it was our last year of being juniors.  In math groups, we all remember playing Top Dog with Mrs Hughes.  Our Grade Two excursion was to Coal Creek and we all got to go to the lolly shop, which was a nice break from walking.  Every week we would have someone that was the V.I.P, which we all hoped would be us.  Then before we knew it, it was the end of the year and we couldn't wait for Grade Three.

Now that our junior years were over, we thought we were so cool and we could finally go on the big kids’ playground.  Grade Three was a crazy year because of Covid and remote learning.  Although it was pretty hard, we made the best of it and enjoyed all the little things that brought happiness.  Class bucks was one of those things.  Before we knew it, Grade Three was over and we were moving up into Grade Four!

Although Covid was still around, we had a bit more time at school than we’d had in Grade Three.  We were all so excited for our first ever school camp.  We all got in trouble for ding dong ditching each other until Mr Dixon joined in as well.  We were all so excited for the mud run and had heaps of fun, then we all got hosed off afterwards.  We also did so many more fun activities, such as; archery, bush cooking, the flying fox, the giant swing and the talent show, which was super fun.  Before we knew it, another year was over and we were moving up into Grade Five.

Starting Grade Five was amazing!  We moved up to the big classrooms ready for a new year with our friends.  Early in the year we had Licola Camp and everyone had a blast.  The giant swing was huge and super fun.  No one had any idea how to lead a Huff ‘N ‘Puff session when we got back to school, but we tried anyway.  Before we knew it, the year was rapidly coming to a close.  We met our prep buddies for the first time and were so excited to see them next year.  French Day was coming up and we were all excited to run the activities for the first time.  Bike Ed started, but sadly we never got to go on the bike hike but got to make bikes out of paper and try to ride them in the gym instead.  Once our Grade Five year had ended we were all ready to be Grade 6’s.

Finn

Finally we were in our last year of primary school and we felt awesome walking up and getting our badges from Mr. McGrory.  We got to see our prep buddies every day, and it was amazing.  After a while, we got our Grade Six T-shirts which looked fantastic.  Early Term 2 we had Melbourne Camp.  After sitting on the bus for hours, we arrived at Melbourne Zoo and stretching our legs was exactly what we needed.  After that the fun really began!  There were heaps of awesome moments and memories in all the places we went.  Coming back to school, the year flew by and we had our last Senior Swimming sports and Athletics.  Eventually we got ready for French Day and had a blast.  Although we are sad to leave Primary School, a lot of new and amazing memories will be ready to greet us next year. 

Now we would like to give a huge thankyou to all our teachers that have helped us to learn and grow through our primary school years.

Ms Hughes: You have always been such a great teacher.  We can all remember Top Dog, one of the best math games we have ever played.

Mrs Ryan: You are so kind to everyone, and always, no matter what, have a giant smile on your face.

Ms Roberts: You are always helping everyone out, thank you for always being such a fantastic teacher.

Mr McGory: We would like to thank you for always helping us all with anything, including writing this speech. You have been such an awesome teacher!

Mr Hughes: Thank you for being such an incredible sports teacher, none of us would be who we are without you and your training. 

Mrs Tuckett: Thank you for helping us through all our learning and for always being kind, no matter what.

Mrs Hamiltion: You always made our lessons fun and interesting, thankyou for teaching us in a new way that we loved. 

Mrs Saultry: You have been such an amazing senior teacher.  We will always remember how fun the Blookets at the end of each math class were.

Mrs Ginnane: you have always been there to help and have taught us so many new things, thank you.

Mrs Piasente: Thank you for always making it so much fun to learn in your class, you have taught us so much. 

Mrs Scrimshaw: Thank you for being such a great teacher all the time and a great STEAM teacher.  We always have fun in your class.

Mrs Gatehouse: Thankyou so much for teaching us French and Art.  We are so lucky that we have you at this school.

We would like to thank all of the teacher assistants for helping us all in the classroom. You have helped to make our journey through primary school so much better.  

Mrs O’Loughlin and the Office staff:  You always greet us when we bring the gray trays down and it puts a smile on our faces!  Thankyou for your kindness!!  Mrs O’Loughlin, you have helped the school so much!  You have been a great principal, thankyou.

We have been so privileged to learn at this school and we will miss you all. 

Au revoir, tout le monde.